SAD DROWNING ACCIDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 300, 18 December 1911, Page 5

SAD DROWNING ACCIDENT.

FOLLOWING A YACHTING CRUISE. A CAPSIZE TJff ST. GEORGE'S BAY. YOUNG MAN LOSH BIS LIFE. A sad sequel to a yachting cruise occurred in St. George's Bay yesterday afternoon owing to the swamping of ..a dinghy, by which the crew of the yacht Cora, just returned from a week-end run, were precipitated into the heavy choppy sea running at the time. The crew consisted of four young men, Gerald and William Byrne, Harry Golder, and Michael Lanigan, all residents of Irelandstreet, Ponsonby. Having brought the yacht to her moorings about 150 yards from the shore, they set off about three o'clock for the beach in the yacht's dinghy. With a north-westerly gale blowing a nasty sea runs by St. George's Bay, and no sooner were the party well clear of the yacht than the dinghy was swamped and capjsired, the crew being rolled under her. They all managed to get clear, but a strong tide, accelerated by the wind, was sweeping down the harbour, and their efforts to make for the shore were unavailing. Gerald Byrne, who was the only one of the crew unable to swim, was held up by his brother, and all four were still afloat when assistance reached them from the shore, several dinghies having been launched as soon asthe plight of the capsized crew was observed. The effort to keep his brother afloat was so severe, however, that William Byrne collapsed when taken aboard, while the elder brother whom he had so desperately striven to save, was so far gone that all .efforts to restore animation proved fruitless. Dr. Aubin, who arrived on the scene almost immediately, pronouncing life to be extinct. The body was accordingly taken to the morgue, and later on was with the permission of the Coroner, removed to the residence of the deceased's parents. William Byrne, whose condition was seen to be serious, was taken to the hospital, where under . treatment he recovered, r,nd during the evening was reported to be out of danger. The other two members of the crew apparently suffered no ill effects from their struggle in the sea. Deceased, who was a locomotive fireman, 24 years of age, wai the main support of his parents, hi-, brother William being four years younger. An inquest is being held at residence of the parents, Ireland-street, this afternoon.

HOW IT HASTENED. BACKWASH FROM THE CLIFF. MR. GOLDER'S NARRATIVE. . According to the narrative given to a pressman this morning by Mr. Harry Golder, the Cora had a good run down from Matiatia, Waiheke, and picked up her moorings all right at St. George's Bay. "Her -moorings lay about 200 yards out from the beach," explained Mr. Golder, "and although there -was a good sea running, none of us anticipated any great trouble in getting ashore. We made the gear snug, had a meal off some cold rabbit and then one of us said, 'Well, what about going ashore,-boys?'- never thinking of the way we should be Teaching it. ! Michael Lonigan took the- oars, and the .rest of us trimmed her as well as could jbe. We all had our boots off, carrying j them till we got ashore, but Gerald 'Byrne was tbe most .heavily clad of the ..four, being iully dressed, underclothes [and all, wtith the exception of his boots. Well, we got along right enough with no thought of .trouble until we had covered, I suppose, half the distance, and then we met a nasty jobble caused by I the backwash from the cliffs, and at tha i first bucketful that came on board I | made up my mind that it was a case of •swamping. A similar tLought must have struck the others, for Gerald Byrne exclaimed: 'We are going to swamp and I can't swim,' and he seemed to get pretty frightened at the outlook. I "It wasn't *"ery good, either, with a strong tide and eea Fanning, and one of ! the crew unable to swim. Anyway, bei fore we could think much more about it the' seas came in and down she went by the stern, the following sea capsizing her. As she went down we all jumped to our feet,' and when the dinghy rolled over we fell clear.

After the first struggle we grabbed Gerald Byrne, who was terribly frightened and seemed to have made' up his mind that he was going to drown, and put his arms over the upturned dinghy, telling him to hold on to the keel. We then swam round to the lon side to try and steady it, bnt instead of holding on to the keel he trie dto climb up on to the bottom, and of course she immediately rolled over with him. He then made a clutch at me and down we went together. When I cleared myself we again got hold of him, and tried to make him hang on to the keel, but as often as we put him there he tried to clamber right- on, and over she rolled with the sua every time. His brother, young William Bryne, did all he co>i!d, but he was npt a strong swimmer himself, and the struggle told on him pretty badly. Lanigan and I did our best to keep Gerald on the dinghy, and when I saw them putting out from the shore I thought it was all right. When the boat came up they took Gerald on board first and then we told them to look after his brother. We all got aboard all right, and none of us thought that Gerald was so fflr gone. After getting ashore Lanigan and I left the two Byrnes to the care of the others and ran up to our shed, where we equeezed some of the water from our clothes and then went along to see how the others were doing.' I tell you It was a shock when we found Gerald Byrne had gone. We could understand better William being knocked out, because, he is a rather delicate sort of chap, bnt the only -way I can account for Gerald having drowned is the way he struggled in his fright and took the water in every time the dinghy rolled over with him. If he could only have kept his head it would have been all right with him. I £hink- you ought to put in a word for Lanigan—he hung on to Gerald right through, and did more to keep him afloat during the half-hour which, I suppose, we were in the water than any of